Quote:
Originally Posted by Bigd400
...
Also are body panels date coded?
|
Most all the panels used to make up the body are stamped with what appears to be a code denoting the week it was formed. These usually take the form of a 3 character code (single letter followed by a 2 digit number). Some panels have a 4 digit code (2 letters with a 2 digit number). Not sure what the letter code represents....perhaps the stamping or die station? The 2 digit number appears to be the week of the year that part was stamped. My car body was assembled during the 21th week of the year. All panels used to make up the body have a 17, 18 or 19 stamp.
Sometimes there is another 4 or 5 digit number stamped in the part and that appears to be a part number of some kind. I saw a thread a while back where someone posted photos of the stamp marks found in rocker panels of earlier cars carried a L or R designation for Left and Right but I didn't see that on any panels from my 1968 car. Maybe they stopped using the L and R by that time???
The bolt on panels from the final assembly plant appear to have a different type of date code. I found stamps on both front fenders. The format might be first character is month, second character is unknown (stamp station or shift?), 3rd and 4th character is day of month and last character is unknown.
The stamp marks for my quarter panels is found near the trunk weatherstrip channel....about 4-6 inches down from the upper corner of the decklid. I didn't discover most of the stampings until after the car was media blasted and epoxy primed. Then many of the stampings were clearly visible.
Here are some photos of my 68....hope some of these help.